Matt Whitaker: ‘Serious questions’ raised by Epstein’s death

The Five 8/12/19 | Breaking Fox News August 12, 2019

Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Shares Story Of Alleged Rape For 1st Time | TODAY

How Trump is fuelling anger over Jeffrey Epstein’s death

The security lapses at the jail where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself: How a guard took a bribe from a Turkish gold dealer and how a Wikileaks leaker managed to share new information from phones smuggled into his cell

Jeffrey Epstein was found alone and unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan early Saturday

He was pronounced dead at New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan hospital

The billionaire pedophile’s death has raised serious questions about the jail given it is hardly the first scandal

A prison guard, Victor Casado, pleaded guilty last year to taking $25,000 in cash bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol and food to a wealthy Turkish gold trader

Reza Zarrab, who was the trader involved, was in prison over a money laundering scheme to Iran and says someone also tried to assassinate him

A former CIA employee, Joshua Adam Schulte, is also accused of leaking classified files from a cell phone while he was locked up in the federal prison

Jeffrey Epstein’s apparent suicide has brought new scrutiny to the federal jail in New York where he was being held given the previous security lapses at the facility that houses some of the highest-security inmates in the country.

The 66-year-old was found alone and unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan early Saturday morning before being rushed to the New York Presbyterian-Lower Manhattan hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The billionaire pedophile’s death has raised serious questions after it emerged he was alone in his cell and corrections officers had not checked on him for several hours – even though they were required to look in on him every 30 minutes given he was previously on suicide watch.

His defense attorney has since faulted jail officials, saying they recklessly put Epstein in harm’s way and failed to protect him.

Epstein’s death is hardly the first scandal at the MCC facility in Manhattan.

Jeffrey Epstein’s death on Saturday is hardly the first scandal at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. There have been multiple security lapses at the federal facility that houses some of the highest-security inmates in the country

Last year, a prison guard at the jail, Victor Casado, pleaded guilty to taking more than $25,000 in cash bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol and food to a wealthy Turkish gold trader between 2016 and 2017.

He also received thousands of dollars in payments from another inmate, which were given to him by the prisoners relatives and a paralegal representing him.

Casado was sentenced in January to three years in prison by a judge who called the crime an assault on ‘our entire system of justice’.

Reza Zarrab, who was the Turkish gold trader involved with bribing the guard, was in prison over a money laundering scheme to Iran.

He has previously testified in court that someone tried to assassinate him at the prison when he implemented Turkey’s President Recep Tayip Erdogan in the scheme that would launder billions of dollars from the U.S. to Iran.

‘I came face to face with an individual who was trying to take my life, and he had pulled a knife on me, and I was about to lose my life,’ Zarrab testified in 2017.

‘He said that he had received instructions to kill because I was cooperating.’

A former CIA employee, Joshua Adam Schulte, is also accused of leaking classified files while he was locked up in the federal prison.

Schulte was charged last year with stealing classified national defense information from the CIA in 2016. He is believed to be behind the ‘Vault 7’ and ‘Vault 8’ documents released by WikiLeaks.

Last year, a prison guard at the jail, Victor Casado, pleaded guilty to taking more than $25,000 in cash bribes to smuggle cellphones, alcohol and food to jailed Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab (pictured above in 2013)

Authorities found multiple cellphones in his cell at the prison when they raided it in October last year. Officials also found 13 email and social media accounts that Schulte was allegedly using to communicate with others outside the prison.

Prosecutors argued that the information he was allegedly disclosing behind bars was different to what WikiLeaks had published.

A former CIA employee, Joshua Adam Schulte, is also accused of leaking classified files while he was locked up in the federal prison

Epstein’s death is now the latest black eye for the jail and the wider U.S. Bureau of Prisons as well.

Attorney General William Barr is now demanding answers, saying he was appalled by the apparent suicide and announcing a pair of federal inquiries by the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general.

Epstein’s death brings fresh attention to the staffing issues at the prison where shortages worsened by a partial government shutdown prompted inmates to stage a hunger strike in January after they were denied family and lawyer visits.

Eight months later, the lockup remains so short-staffed that the BOP is offering correctional officers a $10,000 bonus to transfer there from other federal lockups. That’s on top of a so-called ‘recruitment incentive’ that amounts to 10% of new guards’ first-year salaries.

Staffing shortfalls are resulting in extreme overtime shifts, in which guards may work up to 16 hours a day. A person familiar with the jail’s operations said a guard in Epstein’s unit was working a fifth straight day of overtime and another guard was working mandatory overtime the day he was found.

Those conditions could make it more difficult for correctional officers to enforce the BOP’s strict measures for screening security risks. Those protocols acknowledge that inmates held in so-called special housing units, as Epstein was, ‘may be at a higher risk for suicidal behavior’.

Those safeguards – including cell checks every 30 minutes – were not followed the night before Epstein’s death, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation.

Epstein’s death brings fresh attention to the staffing issues at the prison where shortages worsened by a partial government shutdown prompted inmates to stage a hunger strike in January after they were denied family and lawyer visits

Epstein had been alone in his cell when he was found unresponsive Saturday, even though he only recently had returned to the Special Housing Unit from suicide watch, the person familiar with the jail’s operations said.

The jail had placed him on 24-hour monitoring – with daily psychiatric evaluations – after he was found injured on the floor of his cell two weeks ago with neck bruises.

There was speculation following Epstein’s initial attempt that he had been trying to get away from his prior cellmate – former NYPD officer Nicholas Tartaglione who is accused of killing four men over a drug deal gone wrong.

Tartaglione, however, said that he saved Epstein’s life in that incident after finding him unconscious in their cell and calling for help.

The 12-story jail had been designed to house 449 inmates when it opened in 1975 near the Brooklyn Bridge. Its population ballooned within two years to 539 inmates, prompting a judge to declare it ‘unacceptably cramped and oppressive for most healthy inmates.’

Today it holds more than 760 inmates and counts among its former star inhabitants the Mexican drug lord and escape artist Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, Mafia boss John Gotti, several close associates of Osama bin Laden and Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff.

Authorities tightened security after a guard was seriously injured in 2000 by a terrorist convicted in the deadly 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Ron Kuby, who once represented a blind Egyptian sheik sentenced to life in prison after a 1990s Manhattan terrorism trial, said the lockup houses some of ‘the highest-security prisoners on earth.’

He said that while suicide attempts among inmates are commonplace, ‘it’s been a long time since they lost somebody.’

‘The overall quality of staffing tends to be better than your average county jail in Bumbleberg,’ he said.

Jeffrey Edward Epstein (January 20, 1953 – August 10, 2019) was an American financier and convicted sex offender.[1][2] Epstein began his career in finance at the investment bankBear Stearns before forming his own firm, J. Epstein & Co. Until his conviction for sex crimes in 2008, Epstein was a multimillionaire who was connected with the financial, political, and cultural elites of society.[3]

In April 2005, police of Palm Beach, Florida began investigating Epstein after a parent complained that he molested her 14-year-old daughter.[4] After an investigation, prosecution, and plea negotiations, Epstein pleaded guilty and was convicted by a Florida state court of soliciting a prostitute and of procuring an underage girl for prostitution on June 30, 2008.[5] He served 13months in custody, with work release, as part of a plea deal; federal officials had identified 36girls, some as young as 14 years old, who had been molested.[6][7]

Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.[8][9] He died on August 10, 2019, reportedly after hanging himself in his Manhattan prison cell.[10][11] Three weeks earlier, Epstein had been found unconscious in his jail cell with injuries to his neck and placed on suicide watch, which lasted six days and ended twelve days before he died.[12] An autopsy was performed on August 11; the New York City medical examiner’s office announced that it needed more information before the cause of death could be determined.[13]

Career

Teaching

Epstein started working after the summer of 1974 as a physics and mathematics teacher at the Dalton School in the Upper East Side of Manhattan,[21][24] where Donald Barr was the headmaster until June of 1974 and may have hired Epstein.[25][24] Epstein taught at the exclusive private school from the fall of 1974 until he was dismissed in June 1976.[26][27][28] While teaching at the school, Epstein became acquainted with Alan Greenberg, the chief executive officer of Bear Stearns, whose son and daughter were going to the school. Greenberg’s daughter, Lynne Koeppel, pointed to a parent teacher conference where Epstein influenced another Dalton parent into advocating for him to Greenberg.[28] Greenberg, impressed with Epstein’s intelligence and drive for financial success, offered him a job at Bear Stearns.[20][29]

Banking

Epstein joined Bear Stearns in 1976 and learned the art of finance and trade on Wall Street in New York City.

Epstein joined Bear Stearns in 1976 as a low-level junior assistant to a floor trader.[30] He swiftly moved up to become an options trader, working in the special products division, and then advised the bank’s wealthiest clients, such as Seagram president Edgar Bronfman, on tax mitigation strategies.[22][31][32]Jimmy Cayne, the bank’s later chief executive officer, praised Epstein’s skill with wealthy clients and complex products. In 1980, four years after joining Bear Stearns, Epstein became a limited partner.[30] He was asked to leave Bear Stearns in 1981, for policy violations which remain unclear.[22][20] Even though Epstein departed abruptly, he remained close to Cayne and Greenberg and was a client of Bear Stearns until it collapsed in 2008.[30]

Financial consulting

In August 1981, Epstein founded his own consulting firm, Intercontinental Assets Group Inc. (IAG),[33] which assisted clients in recovering stolen money from fraudulent brokers and lawyers.[20] Epstein described his work at this time as being a high-level bounty hunter. He told friends that he worked sometimes as a consultant for governments and the very wealthy to recover embezzled funds, while at other times he worked for clients who had embezzled funds.[20][34]Ana Obregón was one such wealthy Spanish client, who Epstein helped in 1982 to recover her father’s millions in lost investments, which had disappeared when Drysdale Government Securities collapsed because of fraud.[35]

Epstein also stated to some people at the time that he was an intelligence agent.[36][37] Whether this statement was truthful, in jest, or just plain false is not clear. During the 1980s, Epstein possessed an Austrian passport that had his photo but a false name. The passport showed his place of residence in Saudi Arabia.[38][39] Investigative journalist Vicky Ward said she was told in 2017 by “a former senior White House official” that U.S. Florida District Attorney Alexander Acosta, who handled Epstein’s criminal case in 2008, said to Trump transition interviewers “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone” and that Epstein was “above his pay grade“.[40]

Tower Financial Corporation

In 1987, Hoffenberg and Epstein unsuccessfully tried to take over Pan Am in a corporate raid.

Steven Hoffenberg hired Epstein in 1987, as a consultant for Tower Financial Corporation (unaffiliated with the company of the same name founded in 1998, and acquired by Old National Bancorp in 2014),[41] a collection agency that bought debts people owed to hospitals, banks, and phone companies.[42][43] Hoffenberg set Epstein up in offices in the Villard House and paid him US$25,000 per month for his consulting work (equivalent to $55,000 in 2018).[20]

Hoffenberg and Epstein then refashioned themselves as corporate raiders using Tower Financial as their raiding vessel. One of Epstein’s first assignments for Hoffenberg was to implement what turned out to be an unsuccessful bid to take over Pan American World Airways in 1987. A similar unsuccessful bid in 1988 was made to take over Emery Air Freight Corp. During this period, Hoffenberg and Epstein worked closely together and traveled everywhere on Hoffenberg’s private jet.[20]

In 1993, Tower Financial Corporation imploded as one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in American history which lost its investors over US$450million.[20] In court documents, Hoffenberg claimed that Epstein was intimately involved in the scheme.[44][45] Epstein left the company by 1989 before it collapsed and was never charged for being involved with the massive investor fraud committed. It is unknown if Epstein acquired any stolen funds from the Tower Ponzi scheme.[20]

Financial management firm

Epstein managed Wexner’s wealth and different projects such as the building of his yacht the Limitless.[20]

In 1988, while Epstein was still consulting for Hoffenberg, he founded his own financial management firm, J. Epstein & Company.[43][33] The company was said by Epstein to have been formed to manage the assets of clients with more than US$1billion in net worth, although others have expressed skepticism that he was this restrictive in the clients he took.[22]

The only publicly known billionaire client of Epstein was Leslie Wexner, chairman and CEO of L Brands (formerly The Limited, Inc.) and Victoria’s Secret.[20][46] In 1986, Epstein met Wexner through their mutual acquaintances, insurance executive Robert Meister and his wife, in Palm Beach, Florida. A year later, Epstein became Wexner’s financial adviser and served as his right hand man. Within the year, Epstein had sorted out Wexner’s entangled finances.[22][47] In July 1991, Wexner granted Epstein full power of attorney over his affairs. The power of attorney allowed Epstein to hire people, sign checks, buy and sell properties, borrow money, and do anything else of legally binding nature on Wexner’s behalf.[48]

By 1995, Epstein was a director of the Wexner Foundation and Wexner Heritage Foundation. He was also the president of Wexner’s Property, which developed the town of New Albany outside Columbus, Ohio where Wexner lived. Epstein made millions in fees by managing Wexner’s financial affairs. Although never employed by L Brands, he corresponded frequently with the company executives. Epstein often attended Victoria’s Secret fashion shows, and hosted the models at his New York City home, as well as helping aspiring models get work with the company.[47][48]

In 2004, Epstein and Zuckerman committed up to US$25million to finance Radar, a celebrity and pop culture magazine founded by Maer Roshan. Epstein and Zuckerman were equal partners in the venture. Roshan, as its editor-in-chief, retained a small ownership stake. It folded after three issues.[51]

Liquid Funding Ltd.

Epstein was the president of the company Liquid Funding Ltd. between 2000 and 2007.[52][53] The company was an early pioneer in expanding the kind of debt that could be accepted on repurchase, or the repo market, which involves a lender giving money to a borrower in exchange for securities that the borrower then agrees to buy back at an agreed-upon later time and price. The innovation of Liquid Funding, and other early companies, was that instead of having stocks and bonds as the underlying securities, it had commercial mortgages and investment-grade residential mortgages bundled into complex securities as the underlying security.[52]

Investments

Hedge funds

Epstein invested $80million between 2002 and 2005, in the D.B. Zwirn Special Opportunities hedge fund.[55] In November 2006, Epstein, while under federal investigation for sex crimes,[56] attempted to redeem his investment after he was informed of accounting irregularities in the fund.[57][58] By this time, his investment had grown to $140million. Zwirn refused to redeem the investment. Zwirn worried that Epstein’s redemption could cause a “run on the bank” at the hedge fund. It is unknown how much Epstein personally lost, when the fund was wound down in 2008.[55]

The government began negotiation with Epstein for a plea agreement, as the hedge fund began to collapse. The fund’s collapse would trigger the Great Recession and lose Epstein millions.

In August 2006, Epstein, a month after the federal investigation of him began,[56] invested $57million in the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage hedge fund.[55][59] This fund was highly leveraged in mortgage-backedcollateralized debt obligations (CDOs).[59] On April 18, 2007, an investor in the fund, who had $57million invested, discussed redeeming his investment.[60] At this time, the fund had a leverage ratio of 17:1, which meant for every dollar invested there were seventeen dollars of borrowed funds; therefore, the redemption of this investment would have been equivalent to removing $1billion from the thinly traded CDO market.[61] The selling of CDO assets to meet the redemptions that month began a repricing process and general freeze in the CDO market. The repricing of the CDO assets caused the collapse of the fund three months later in July, and the eventual collapse of Bear Stearns in March 2008. It is likely Epstein lost most of this investment, but it is not known how much was his.[60][59]

By the time that the Bear Stearns fund began to fail in May 2007, Epstein had begun to negotiate a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office concerning imminent charges for sex with minors.[55][56] In August 2007, a month after the fund collapsed, the U.S. attorney in Miami, Alexander Acosta, entered into direct discussions about the plea agreement.[56] Acosta brokered a lenient deal, according to him, because he had been ordered by higher government officials, who told him that Epstein was an individual of importance to the government.[40] As part of the negotiations, according to the Miami Herald, Epstein provided “unspecified information” to the Florida federal prosecutors for a more lenient sentence and was supposedly an unnamed key witness for the New York federal prosecutors in their unsuccessful June 2008 criminal case against the two managers of the failed Bear Stearns hedge fund. Alan Dershowitz, one of Epstein’s Florida attorneys on the case, told FOX Business “We would have been touting that if he had [cooperated]. The idea that Epstein helped in any prosecution is news to me.”[55][6][62]

Israeli startup

In 2015, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Epstein invested in the startup Reporty Homeland Security (rebranded as Carbyne in 2018).[63][64][65] The startup is connected with Israel’s defense industry. It is headed by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who was also at one time the defense minister, and chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The CEO of the company is Amir Elihai who was a special forces officer, and Pinchas Bukhris, who is a director of the company, was at one time the defense ministry director general and commander of the IDF cyber unit 8200.[66] Epstein and Barak, the head of Carbyne, were close, and Epstein often offered him lodging at one of his apartment units at 301 East 66th Street in Manhattan.[67][68]

Legal proceedings

First criminal case

Initial developments (2005–2006)

In March 2005, a woman contacted Florida’s Palm Beach Police Department and alleged that her 14-year-old stepdaughter had been taken to Epstein’s mansion by an older girl. There she was allegedly paid $300 (equivalent to $380 in 2018) to strip and massage Epstein.[70] She had allegedly undressed, but left the encounter wearing her underwear.[71]

Police began a 13-month undercover investigation of Epstein, that included a search of his home.[56][72] The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also became involved in the investigation. Subsequently, the police alleged that Epstein had paid several girls to perform sexual acts with him.[73] Interviews with five alleged victims and 17 witnesses under oath, a high school transcript and other items found in Epstein’s trash and home allegedly showed that some of the girls involved were under 18.[74] The police search of Epstein’s home found two hidden cameras and large numbers of photos of girls throughout the house, some of whom the police had interviewed in the course of their investigation.[71]

The International Business Times reported that papers filed in a 2006 lawsuit alleged that Epstein installed concealed cameras in numerous places on his property to record sexual activity with underage girls by prominent people for criminal purposes, such as blackmail.[75] Epstein allegedly “lent” girls to powerful people to ingratiate himself with them and also to gain possible blackmail information.[73] In 2015, evidence came to light that one of the powerful men at Epstein’s mansion may have been Prince Andrew, Duke of York.[73] A former employee told the police that Epstein would receive massages three times a day.[71] Eventually the FBI compiled reports on “34 confirmed minors” eligible for restitution (increased to 40 in the NPA) whose allegations of molestation by Epstein included corroborating details.[76]Julie Brown‘s 2018 exposé[6][56][77] in the Miami Herald identified about 80 and located about 60 victims. She quotes the then police chief, Michael Reiter, “This was 50-something ‘shes’ and one ‘he’—and the ‘shes’ all basically told the same story.”[6]

In May 2006, Palm Beach police filed a probable cause affidavit saying that Epstein should be charged with four counts of unlawful sex with minors and one molestation count.[71][78]

After press reports that Epstein would be charged with one count of aggravated assault with no intent to commit a felony, Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter accused the Palm Beach County state prosecutor, Barry Krischer, of being too lenient and was instrumental in bringing in the FBI.[70] Instead Krischer convened a Palm Beach Countygrand jury, which was usually only done in capital cases. Presented evidence from only two victims, the grand jury returned a single charge of felony solicitation of prostitution,[80] to which Epstein pleaded not guilty in August 2006.[81]

Non-prosecution agreement (NPA) (2006–2008)

In July 2006, the FBI began its own investigation of Epstein, nicknamed “Operation Leap Year”. It resulted in a 53-page indictment in June 2007 that was never presented to a grand jury.[56]Alexander Acosta, then the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, agreed to a plea deal to grant immunity from all federal criminal charges to Epstein, along with four named co-conspirators and any unnamed “potential co-conspirators”. According to the Miami Herald, the non-prosecution agreement “essentially shut down an ongoing FBI probe into whether there were more victims and other powerful people who took part in Epstein’s sex crimes”. At the time, this halted the investigation and sealed the indictment. The Miami Herald said: “Acosta agreed, despite a federal law to the contrary, that the deal would be kept from the victims.”[6]

Acosta later said he offered a lenient plea deal because he was told that Epstein “belonged to intelligence”, was “above his pay grade” and to “leave it alone”.[40] Epstein agreed to plead guilty in Florida state court to two felony prostitution charges, register as a sex offender, and pay restitution to three dozen victims identified by the FBI.[6][73]

A Federal Judge later found that the prosecutors had violated the victims’ rights in that they had concealed the agreement from the victims and instead urged them to have “patience”.[82][83]

Conviction and sentencing (2008–2011)

On June 30, 2008, after Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge (one of two) of procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18,[84] he was sentenced to 18months in prison. While most convicted sex offenders in Florida are sent to state prison, Epstein was instead housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade and, according to the sheriff’s office, was after ​31⁄2months allowed to leave the jail on “work release” for up to 12hours a day, 6days a week. This contravened the sheriff’s own policies requiring a maximum remaining sentence of 10months and making sex offenders ineligible for the privilege. He was allowed to come and go outside of specified release hours.[77]

Epstein’s cell door was left unlocked, and he had access to the attorney room where a television was installed for him, before he was moved to the stockade’s previously unstaffed infirmary. He worked at the office of a foundation he had created shortly before reporting to jail; he dissolved it after he had served his time. The Sheriff’s Office received $128,000 from Epstein’s non-profit to pay for the costs of extra services being provided during his work release. His office was monitored by “permit deputies” whose overtime was paid by Epstein. They were required to wear suits, and checked in “welcomed guests” at the “front desk”. Later the Sheriff’s Office said these guest logs were destroyed per the department’s “records retention” rules (although inexplicably the Stockade visitor logs were not).[85] He was allowed to use his own driver to drive him between jail and his office and other appointments.[77][85]

Epstein served almost 13months before being released for a year of probation on house arrest until August 2010. While on probation he was allowed numerous trips on his corporate jet to his residences in Manhattan and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was allowed long shopping trips and to walk around Palm Beach “for exercise”.[77]

After a contested hearing in January 2011, and an appeal, he stayed registered in New York State as a “level three” (high risk of repeat offense) sex offender, a lifelong designation.[86][87] At that hearing the Manhattan District Attorney argued unsuccessfully that the level should be reduced to a low-risk “level one” and was chided by the judge. Despite opposition from Epstein’s lawyer that he had a “main” home in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the judge confirmed he personally must check in with the New York Police Department every 90 days. Though Epstein had been a level three registered sex offender in New York since 2010, the New York Police Department never enforced the 90-day regulation, though non-compliance is a felony.[83]

Reactions

The immunity agreement and his lenient treatment were the subject of ongoing public dispute. The Palm Beach police chief accused the state of giving him preferential treatment,[70] and the Miami Herald said U.S. Attorney Acosta gave Epstein “the deal of a lifetime”.[6] Following Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, on sex trafficking charges, Acosta resigned as Secretary of Labor effective July 19, 2019.[88]

After the accusations became public, several persons and institutions returned donations that they had received from Epstein, including Eliot Spitzer, Bill Richardson,[89] and the Palm Beach Police Department.[74]Harvard University announced it would not return any money.[89] Various charitable donations that Epstein had made to finance children’s education were also questioned.[84]

On June 18, 2010, Epstein’s former house manager, Alfredo Rodriguez, was sentenced to 18months’ incarceration after being convicted on an obstruction charge for failing to turn over to police, and subsequently trying to sell, a journal in which he had recorded Epstein’s activities. FBI Special Agent Christina Pryor reviewed the material and agreed it was information “that would have been extremely useful in investigating and prosecuting the case, including names and contact information of material witnesses and additional victims.”[90][91]

Civil cases

Jane Does v. Epstein (2008)

On February 6, 2008, an anonymous Virginia woman filed a $50million civil lawsuit[92] in federal court against Epstein, alleging that when she was a 16-year-old minor in 2004–2005, she was “recruited to give Epstein a massage”. She claims she was taken to his mansion, where he exposed himself and had sexual intercourse with her, and paid her $200 immediately afterward.[80] A similar $50million suit was filed in March 2008, by a different woman, who was represented by the same lawyer.[93]These and several similar lawsuits were dismissed.[94] All other lawsuits have been settled by Epstein out of court.[95] Epstein made many out-of-court settlements with alleged victims.[94]

Victims’ rights: Jane Does v. United States (2014)

A December 30, 2014, federal civil suit was filed in Florida by Jane Doe 1 (Courtney Wild) and Jane Doe 2 against the United States for violations of the Crime Victims’ Rights Act by the U.S. Department of Justice‘s NPA with Epstein and his limited 2008 state plea. There was a later unsuccessful effort to add Virginia Roberts (Jane Doe 3) and another woman (Jane Doe 4) as plaintiffs to that case.[96] The addition accused Alan Dershowitz of sexually abusing a minor, Jane Doe 3, provided by Epstein.[97] (See Two Jane Does v. United States.) The allegations against Dershowitz were stricken by the judge and eliminated from the case because he said they were outside the intent of the suit to re-open the plea agreement.[98][99]A document filed in court alleges that Epstein ran a “sexual abuse ring“, and lent underage girls to “prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders”.[100]

This long-running lawsuit is pending in federal court, aimed at vacating the federal plea agreement on the grounds that it violated victims’ rights.[101] On April 7, 2015, Judge Kenneth Marra ruled that the allegations made by alleged victim Virginia Roberts against Prince Andrew had no bearing on the lawsuit by alleged victims seeking to reopen Epstein’s non-prosecution plea agreement with the federal government; the judge ordered that allegation to be struck from the record.[98] Judge Marra made no ruling as to whether claims by Roberts are true or false. Though he did not allow Jane Does 3 and 4 to join the suit, Marra specifically said that Roberts may later give evidence when the case comes to court.[102]

Virginia Roberts Giuffre v. Epstein (2015)

In January 2015, a 31-year-old American woman, Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre),[104] alleged in a sworn affidavit that at the age of 17, she had been held as a sex slave by Epstein.[105] She further alleged that he and the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell had trafficked her to several people, including Prince Andrew[106][107] and retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz.[104] Roberts also claimed that Epstein, Maxwell and others had physically and sexually abused her.[106] Roberts alleged that the FBI may have been involved in a cover-up.[107] She said she had served as Epstein’s sex slave from 1999 to 2002, and had recruited other underage girls.[108] Prince Andrew, Epstein, and Dershowitz all denied having had sex with Roberts. Dershowitz took legal action over the allegations.[109][110][111] A diary purported to belong to Roberts was published online.[112][113]Epstein entered an out-of-court settlement with Roberts, as he had done in several other lawsuits.[73] The BBC television series Panorama planned an investigation of these claims.[114] As of 2016, these accusations had not been tested in any court of law.[115]

Virginia Roberts Giuffre v. Ghislaine Maxwell (2015)

As a result of Giuffre’s allegations and Maxwell’s comments about them, Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in September 2015. After much legal confrontation, the case was settled under seal in May 2017. The Miami Herald, other media, and Alan Dershowitz filed to have the documents about the settlement unsealed. After the judge dismissed their request, the matter was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.[116]

On March 11, 2019, in the appeal of the district judge’s refusal to unseal the documents relating to the 2017 defamation settlement of Giuffre v. Maxwell, the 2nd Circuit Court gave parties one week to provide good cause as to why they should remain under seal, without which they would be unsealed on March 19, 2019. Later the Court ordered these documents to be unsealed (after having them redacted to protect innocent parties). In Giuffre’s testimony, she claims that she was directed by Maxwell to give erotic massages and engage in sexual activities with Prince Andrew, Jean-Luc Brunel, Glenn Dubin, Marvin Minsky, Governor Bill Richardson, another unnamed prince, an unnamed foreign president, “a well known Prime Minister”, and an unnamed hotel chain owner from France, among others that she could not name.[117]As Giuffre testified, “my whole life revolved around just pleasing these men and keeping Ghislaine and Jeffrey happy. Their whole entire lives revolved around sex.”[117][116]

Jane Doe v. Epstein and Trump (2016)

A federal lawsuit filed in California in April 2016, against Epstein and Donald Trump by a California woman alleged that the two men sexually assaulted her at a series of parties at Epstein’s Manhattan residence in 1994, when she was 13years old. The suit was dismissed by a federal judge in May 2016 because it did not raise valid claims under federal law. The woman filed another federal suit in New York in June 2016, but it was withdrawn three months later, apparently without being served on the defendants. A third federal suit was filed in New York in September 2016. The two latter suits included affidavits by an anonymous witness who attested to the accusations in the suits, asserting Epstein employed her to procure underage girls for him, and an anonymous person who declared the plaintiff had told him/her about the assaults at the time they occurred. The plaintiff, who had filed anonymously as Jane Doe, was scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles press conference six days before the 2016 election, but abruptly canceled the event; her lawyer Lisa Bloom asserted that the woman had received threats. The suit was dropped on November 4, 2016. Trump attorney Alan Garten flatly denied the allegations, while Epstein declined to comment.[118][119][120][121][122]

Sarah Ransome v. Epstein and Maxwell (2017)

In 2017, Sarah Ransome filed a suit against Epstein and Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell had hired her to give massages to Epstein and later threatened to physically harm her or destroy her career prospects if she did not comply with their sexual demands at his mansion in New York City and on his private Caribbean island, Little Saint James. The suit was settled in 2018 under undisclosed terms.[123][124][125]

Bradley Edwards’ defamation v. Epstein (2018)

A state civil lawsuit in Florida filed by attorney Bradley Edwards against Epstein was scheduled for trial in December 2018. The trial was expected to provide victims with their first opportunity to make their accusations in public. However, the case was settled on the first day of the trial, with Epstein apologizing to Edwards; other terms of the settlement were confidential.[101][126]

Maria Farmer v. Epstein and Maxwell (2019)

On April 16, 2019, a new accuser, Maria Farmer, went public and filed a sworn affidavit in federal court in New York, alleging that she and her 15-year-old sister, Anne, had been sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell in separate locations in 1996. According to the affidavit, Farmer had met Epstein and Maxwell at a New York City art gallery reception in 1995. The following year, in the summer of 1996, they hired her to work on an art project in Leslie Wexner’s Ohio mansion, where she was then sexually assaulted.[127] Farmer reported the incident to the New York City Police Department and the FBI.[128]

Farmer’s affidavit also stated that during the same summer, Epstein flew her then-15-year-old sister to his New Mexico property where he and Maxwell molested her on a massage table.[129]

Jennifer Araoz v. Epstein (2019)

On July 22, 2019, while in jail awaiting trial, Epstein was served with a petition regarding a pending state civil lawsuit filed by a Jennifer Araoz, who says Epstein raped her in his New York City mansion when she was 15. As of August 14, 2019, adult survivors of child sexual abuse will have one year from that date to sue for offenses in New York State, no matter how long ago the abuse took place.[130]

Second criminal case

Trafficking charges

According to witnesses and sources on the day of his arrest, about a dozen FBI agents forced open the door to his Manhattan townhouse, the Herbert N. Straus House, with search warrants. The search of his townhouse turned up evidence of sex trafficking and also found “hundreds – and perhaps thousands – of sexually suggestive photographs of fully – or partially – nude females”. Some of the photos were confirmed as those of underage females. In a locked safe, compact discs were found with handwritten labels including the descriptions: “Young [Name] + [Name]”, “Misc nudes 1”, and “Girl pics nude”.[133] There were also found in the safe $70,000 in cash, 48 diamonds,[134] and a fraudulent Austrian passport, which expired in 1987, and had Epstein’s photo but another name. The passport had numerous entrance and exit stamps, including entrance stamps that showed the use of the passport to enter France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. The passport showed his place of residence as Saudi Arabia.[38][39][135][136][137] According to his attorneys, Epstein had been advised to acquire the passport because “as an affluent member of the Jewish faith”, he was prone to kidnappings whilst traveling abroad.[138]

On July 8, prosecutors with the Public Corruption Unit of the Southern District of New York charged him with sex trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. The grand jury indictment alleges that “dozens” ofunderage girls were brought into Epstein’s mansions for sexual encounters.[8][9][139] Judge Kenneth Marra was to decide whether the non-prosecution agreement that protected Epstein from the more serious charges should still stand.[140]

Epstein’s lawyers urged the court to allow Epstein to post bail, offering to post up to a $600million bond (including $100million from his brother, Mark) so he could leave jail and submit to house arrest in his New York City mansion. Judge Richard M. Berman denied the request on July 18, saying that Epstein posed a danger to the public and a serious flight risk to avoid prosecution.[141]

On July 23, Epstein was found injured and semiconscious at 1:30a.m. on the floor of his cell, with marks around his neck that were suspected to be the result of either a suicide attempt or an assault. His cellmate, former New York City police officer Nicholas Tartaglione, who is charged with four counts of murder, was questioned about Epstein’s condition. He denied knowledge of what happened. Epstein himself said he recollected nothing.[134][142][143][144] According to NBC News, two sources said that Epstein might have tried to hang himself, a third said the injuries were not serious and could have been staged, while a fourth source said that an assault by his cellmate had not been ruled out.[69]

Personal life

Previous long-term girlfriends associated with Epstein include Eva Andersson-Dubin[145][146] and publishing heiress Ghislaine Maxwell.[20] Epstein was romantically linked with Andersson-Dubin in the 1980s and the two later remained friendly well after her marriage to Glenn Dubin.[145][146] Epstein had met Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of disgraced media baron Robert Maxwell, by 1991.[37][125][147][148][149] Maxwell was implicated by several of Epstein’s accusers as procuring or recruiting underage girls in addition to once being Epstein’s girlfriend.[123][125][149] In a 2009 deposition, several of Epstein’s household employees testified that Maxwell had a central role in both his public and private life, referring to her as his “main girlfriend” who also handled the hiring, supervising, and firing of staff starting around 1992. In 1995, Epstein renamed one of his companies the Ghislaine Corporation in Palm Beach, Florida; the company was later dissolved in 1998.[128] In the year 2000, Maxwell moved into a 7,000-square-foot townhouse, less than 10blocks from Epstein’s New York mansion. This townhome was purchased for $4.95million by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Epstein’s longtime lawyer.[124] In a 2003 Vanity Fair exposé, Epstein refers to Maxwell as “my best friend”.[20]

Epstein was a longtime acquaintance of Prince Andrew and Tom Barrack,[150] and attended parties with many prominent people, including Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, Donald Trump,[151]Katie Couric, and Woody Allen.[152] His contacts also included Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and British prime minister Tony Blair.[153][154] Both Clinton[155] and Donald Trump[156] claimed that they never visited Epstein’s island. Epstein owned a private Boeing 727 jet, nicknamed the “Lolita Express” by the tabloid press, and traveled in it frequently, logging “600 flying hours a year … usually with guests on board”.[157][158][159] Epstein’s brother told The Washington Post that Trump flew “numerous times” on Epstein’s airplane, although he was only present on one of the flights.[160][161] Trump also flew Epstein on his own airplane at least once, according to Michael Corcoran.[162] In September 2002, Epstein flew Clinton, Kevin Spacey, and Chris Tucker to Africa in his private jet.[22][158][163][164] Flight records obtained in 2016 show Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane 26times to at least a dozen international locations.[165][166] Flight logs did not list any Secret Service detail for at least five flights, all in Asia,[165] and Secret Service stated that there is no evidence of the former President making a trip to his private island.[165] In 2019, a Clinton spokesperson stated that, in 2002 and 2003, Clinton took four trips on Epstein’s airplane, making stops on three continents, all with his staff and Secret Service detail.[167] At the time of Epstein’s 2019 arrest, Clinton’s spokeswoman Angel Ureña stated that Clinton had “not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade, and has never been to Little St. James Island, Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, or his residence in Florida.”[168] In documents unsealed the day before Epstein’s death, the deposition of alleged sex slave Virginia Giuffre includes her allegations that when she was 17, Clinton visited Little Saint James island, that underage girls were present, and that Epstein threw a dinner party for the former President. She stated Secret Service was present, but not at all times;[169][170] the Secret Service told Fox News it had no record of agents being on the island.[171] The unsealed court documents also showed Giuffre later acknowledged that her claim Clinton visited the island was false.[172] Giuffre claims Maxwell told her she flew Clinton to the island on her helicopter, although she conceded, “I heard a lot of things from Ghislaine that sounded too true – too outrageous to be true, but you never knew what to believe.”[169][170]

President Trump states “I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.” July 2019 video from the White House.

In a profile of Epstein in New York magazine in 2002, former Democratic Senate leader George J. Mitchell said of Epstein, “I would certainly call him a friend and a supporter.” In the same article, Donald Trump remarked, “I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”[173] In July 2019, Trump said “I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,” stating four times he had not been “a fan” of Epstein and that he had not spoken to him in about fifteen years. Video surfaced that month showing the two men partying together at Mar-a-Lago in 1992.[174][175][176][177] By 2007,[178] Epstein was reported to have been banned from Trump’s club.[179][180][181] The ban allegation was included in court documents filed by attorney Bradley Edwards,[182] although Edwards later said it was a rumor he tried but failed to confirm.[183][184] Clinton lauded Epstein as “a committed philanthropist” with “insights and generosity”. At the time Epstein was on the board of Rockefeller University, a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations, and was a major donor to Harvard University.[185]

Epstein visited the White House on four known occasions in the 1990s.[186] In 1993, during Bill Clinton’s presidency he went to a donor event at the White House with his companion Ghislaine Maxwell. Around the same time, he also met with President Clinton’s aide Mark Middleton on at least three occasions at the White House. In 1995, financier Lynn Forester discussed “Jeffrey Epstein and currency stabilization” with Clinton.[186] Epstein, according to his own accounts, was heavily involved in the foreign exchange market and traded large amounts of currency in the unregulated forex market.[20][22] In 1995, Epstein also attended a small political fundraiser dinner for Bill Clinton which included 14 other people such as Ron Perelman, Don Johnson, Jimmy Buffett, and dinner organizer Paul Prosperi.[187]

From the 1990s to mid-2000s, Epstein often socialized with the future President Donald Trump.[148][160][176][188] Journalist Michael Wolff wrote that Trump, Epstein, and Tom Barrack were at the time like a “set of nightlife musketeers” on the social scene.[3][189] Epstein and Trump socialized both in New York City and Palm Beach, where they both had houses.[176][188] A porter who worked next door to Epstein’s house on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in 2000 stated to The Mail on Sunday in reference to people coming and going from Epstein’s house that “I often see Donald Trump and there are loads of models coming and going, mostly at night. It’s amazing he’s got so many ladies, as Mr Epstein, and always has a new one on his arm, it seems.”[148] In April 2003, New York magazine reported Epstein hosted a dinner party in his Manhattan residence to honor Bill Clinton, who did not attend, although Trump did attend.[190] According to The Washington Post, one person who knew Epstein and Trump during this time noted that “they were tight” and “they were each other’s wingmen“. In November 2004, Epstein and Trump’s friendship ran into trouble when they became embroiled in a bidding war for a $40million mansion, Maison de L’Amitie, which was being auctioned in Palm Beach. Trump won the auction for $41million, and successfully sold the property four years later for $95million to the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. That month was the last time Epstein and Trump were recorded to have interacted.[160]

Wealth

In 2008, when Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting and procuring prostitution, his lawyers stated he was a billionaire with a net worth of over one billion dollars.[191] A number of sources, however, have questioned the extent of Epstein’s wealth and his status as a billionaire. According to an article in The New York Times, his “fortune may be more illusion than fact”. Epstein lost “large sums of money” in the 2008 financial crisis, and “friends and patrons”—including retail billionaire Leslie H. Wexner, “deserted him” following his pleading guilty to prostitution charges in 2008.[43]New York magazine claimed that “there’s scant proof” of Epstein’s “financial bona fides”,[191] and Forbes also ran an article entitled “Why sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is not a billionaire”.[192]

Spencer Kuvin, an attorney for three of Epstein’s alleged victims in the case where Epstein pleaded guilty to sexual activity with minors, stated that “he and his team ‘pursued every possible angle’ to find out Epstein’s net worth but found that much of his wealth is offshore.”[192] An investigation by the Miami Herald of the Swiss Leaks documents indicated that Epstein had multiple financial accounts with millions of dollars in offshore tax havens. In the Paradise Papers, records showed that Epstein in February 1997, became a client of Appleby, a Bermuda-based law firm which specialized in the creation of offshore companies and investment vehicles for the ultra-wealthy. A client profile of Epstein described his job cryptically as the “Manager of Fortune”.[52][53]

Federal prosecutors on July 12, 2019, stated in court documents that, based on records from one financial institution, that Jeffrey Epstein was “extravagantly wealthy” and had assets worth at least $500million and earned more than $10million a year. The extent of his wealth, however, was not known, since he had not filled out a financial affidavit for his bail application.[193][194][195] According to Bloomberg, “Today, so little is known about Epstein’s current business or clients that the only things that can be valued with any certainty are his properties.”[196] The Miami Herald in their investigation of the Paradise Papers and Swiss Leaks documents concluded that Epstein’s wealth is likely spread secretly across the globe.[52]

Residences

Epstein owned the Herbert N. Straus House on 9 East 71st Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City.[197][198] It was originally purchased for $13.2million in 1989 by Epstein’s mentor, Les Wexner, who renovated it completely.[199][200][201] Epstein moved into the mansion in 1995 after Wexner married and moved with his wife to Columbus, Ohio, to raise their family.[22][200] He took full possession of the mansion in 1998, when he paid Wexner $20million for it.[43] The mansion is reputedly the largest private residence in Manhattan at 21,000 sq ft (2,000 m2).[199][197] Hidden under a flight of stairs, there is a lead-lined bathroom fitted with its own Closed-circuit television screens and a telephone, both concealed in a cabinet under the sink. It also has its own heated sidewalk to melt away the snow.[202] The entrance hall is lined with rows of individually framed prosthetic eyeballs which were made for injured English soldiers.[20]

Epstein, previous to his final Manhattan home, lived in a spacious townhouse, which was a former Iranian government building that had been taken over by the State Department during the Iranian revolution, at 34 East 69th Street for a rate of $15,000 a month from 1992 to 1995.[208] He also previously owned a mansion outside Columbus, Ohio near Wexner’s home from 1992 to 1998 which he purchased from his mentor.[48] Before the Herbert Straus house was purchased, Wexner purchased in 1988 the adjacent townhouse at 11 East 71st Street. Like in the case of the 9 East 71st Street house, Epstein was on the deed of the 11 East 71st Street house as the trustee. The townhouse was sold in 1996 to the Comet trust which holds part of the assets of the de Gunzburg/Bronfman family.[209]

Epstein rented multiple apartment units for his employees, models, and guests since the 1990s at 301 East 66th Street. The majority of the apartment complex at this address is owned by Ossa properties, which is owned by Jeffrey Epstein’s brother, Mark, who purchased the complex in the early 1990s from Wexner. Over the years Epstein has housed different friends at 11 East 71st Street, including his ex-girlfriend Eva Andersson, who is now married to his hedge-fund friend Glenn Dubin, MC2 Models founder Jean-Luc Brunel, and on occasions former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. He has housed some of his workers, including his pilot, housekeeper and office work staff, in the apartment complex. Epstein has also housed underage girls, who Brunel scouted from South America, Europe and the former Soviet Union for the MC2 modeling agency owned by Jean-Luc Brunel, at the location.[67][68] On August 6, 2012, a model and party promoter associated with MC2, Pedro Gaspar, who lived above another of the modeling agency’s locations in Manhattan, died of what some consider to be a suspicious drug overdose.[210]

Political donations

From 1989 until 2003, Epstein donated more than $139,000 to Democratic federal candidates and committees and over $18,000 to Republican candidates and groups.[211]

Epstein contributed $50,000 to Democrat Bill Richardson‘s successful campaign for New Mexico Governor in 2002 and again for his successful run for reelection in 2006. Also that year, he contributed $15,000 to Democrat Gary King‘s successful campaign for New Mexico Attorney General. He later contributed $35,000 to King’s 2014 unsuccessful campaign for Governor. Other contributions in New Mexico included Epstein $10,000 toward Jim Bacca’s campaign to become head of the land commission and $2,000 toward Santa Fe County Sheriff Jim Solano’s bid for reelection. In 2010, Epstein received a notice from New Mexico Department of Public Safety which said, “You are not required to register [as a sex offender] with the state of New Mexico.”[212]

Philanthropy

Epstein donated millions of dollars to Harvard University over the years for different causes.

In 1991, Epstein was one of four donors who pledged to raise US$2million for a Hillel student building Rosovsky Hall at Harvard University.[213][214] In 2000, Epstein established the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, which funds science research and education. Prior to 2003, the foundation funded Martin Nowak‘s research at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. In May 2003, Epstein pledged a series of donations totaling US$30million to create a mathematical biology and evolutionary dynamics program at Harvard which was run by Martin Nowak.[213] According to The Boston Globe, the actual amount received from Epstein was US$6.5million.[89][213][214] In 2019, Forbes deleted a 2013 article that called Epstein “one of the largest backers of cutting edge science” after The New York Times revealed its author, Drew Hendricks, had been paid $600 to submit it falsely as his own.[146]

The true extent of Epstein’s donations is unknown. The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation fails to disclose information which other charities routinely disclose. Concerns have been raised over this lack of transparency. In 2015, the Attorney General of the state of New York was reported to be trying to gain information but was refused since the charities were based outside of the state and did not solicit in New York State.[217] Epstein, besides making donations through the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, also made a number of charitable donations through his three private charities: Epstein Interest, the COUQ Foundation, and Gratitude American Ltd. According to federal tax filings, Epstein donated $30million between 1998 and 2018, through these three charities.[218]

Interest in eugenics and transhumanism

According to various sources, Epstein, beginning in the early 2000s, showed a strong interest in improving the human race through genetic engineering and artificial intelligence, including using his own sperm. He addressed the scientific community at various events and occasions and communicated his fascination with eugenics.[219] It was reported in August 2019 that Epstein had planned to “seed the human race with his DNA” by impregnating up to 20 women at a time using his New Mexico compound as a “baby ranch”, where mothers would give birth to his offspring. He was an advocate of cryonics and his own idiosyncratic version of transhumanism, and had said that he intended to have his penis and head frozen.[220][221]

Death

Epstein’s body moved from New York hospital to medical examiner’s office, video from Voice of America

Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York City at 6:30a.m. EDT on August 10, 2019. He was 66 years old.[10][222] The Bureau of Prisons said lifesaving measures were initiated immediately upon the discovery of Epstein’s body. Emergency responders were called and he was taken to a hospital. The Bureau of Prisons and U.S. Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr called the death an apparent suicide, although no final determination had been made.[11] The circumstances leading up to his death are being investigated by the Justice Department.[223][224] An autopsy was performed August 11, but no cause of death has been announced because the New York City medical examiner’s office is awaiting further information.[13]

On July 23, three weeks prior, Epstein was found unconscious in his jail cell with injuries to his neck.[144] After that incident, he was placed on suicide watch.[225] Six days later, Epstein was taken off suicide watch and placed in a special housing unit with another inmate. The jail had informed the Justice Department that Epstein would have a cellmate and that a guard would look into the cell every 30 minutes. These procedures were not followed on the night of his death. Two weeks after his suicide watch the jail allowed him to be housed alone. In violation of the jail’s normal procedure, Epstein was not being checked every 30 minutes on the night he died.[12][226]

Epstein’s removal from suicide watch at such a time, and in such a high-security federal facility, left some prison experts “stunned and angry”; MCC is nicknamed the “Guantanamo of New York”.[227] Attorney General Barr ordered an investigation by the Department of Justice Inspector General in addition to the investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, saying that he was “appalled” by Epstein’s death in federal custody.[11][228] Two days later Barr said there had been “serious irregularities” in the prison’s handling of Epstein, promising “We will get to the bottom of what happened, and there will be accountability.”[229]

Investigation

The national president of the Council of Prison Locals C-33, E. O. Young, stated that prisons “can’t ever stop anyone who is persistent on killing themselves”.[230] Between 2010 and 2016, around 124 inmates while in federal custody killed themselves, or around 20 prisoners per year, out of an inmate population of 180,000.[231][232] The last reported inmate to kill themselves in the MCC facility in Manhattan was 21 years ago in 1998.[233] The union leader Young said it was unclear if there was video of Epstein’s hanging or direct observations by jail officials. He said that while cameras are ubiquitous in the facility, he did not believe that the interior of inmates’ cells were within their range. Young said union officials had long been raising concerns regarding staffing, as the Trump administration had imposed a hiring freeze and budget cuts on the BOP, adding “All this was caused by the administration.”[230] President Serene Gregg, of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3148, said MCC is functioning with fewer than 70 percent of the needed correctional officers, forcing many to work mandatory overtime and 60 to 70-hour workweeks.[230][234] The White House did not respond to requests for comment. In previous congressional testimony, Attorney General Barr admitted the BOP was “short” about 4,000 to 5,000 employees. He had lifted the freeze and was working to recruit sufficient new officers to replace those who had departed.[230]

References …

EXCLUSIVE: A dozen FBI agents raid Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘Pedophile Island’, pulling up to his Caribbean getaway in speedboats and roaming the grounds in golf carts, two days after pervert billionaire’s suicide

FBI agents were seen raiding Jeffrey Epstein’s private US Virgin Island, which has been dubbed ‘Pedophile Island’, as the sex trafficking probe around the now deceased billionaire intensifies, as exclusive DailyMailTV footage shows the search being carried out.

A large group of FBI officers were seen disembarking speedboats at the pier of Little St James on Monday morning and driving around on golf carts after the 66-year-old was found dead by suicide in his New York jail cell early on Saturday morning.

Other officials with ‘FBI’ lettering on clear display were later seen overlooking the crystal blue sea from the top of Epstein’s remote luxury home off the coast of St Thomas.

The search comes after 2,000 pages of documents detailing the lurid allegations of his sexual abuse of underage girls were unsealed to the public on Friday, adding more fuel to the fire of the government’s case of sex trafficking against Epstein.

At least a dozen agents were seen disembarking speedboats at the pier and driving around on golf carts

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An onlooker, who wanted to remain anonymous and shot the footage, told DailyMailTV: ‘I’m on a boat charter with guests. We are the only guests out here at the moment. We were enjoying lunch when we saw over a dozen people getting off their speedboats and landing on the island’

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Allegations have been made that underage girls were used as sex slaves and repeatedly abused inside a temple on the island

An onlooker, who asked to remain anonymous and shot the footage, told DailyMailTV: ‘I’m on a boat charter with guests. We are the only guests out here at the moment.

‘We were enjoying lunch when we saw over a dozen people getting off their speedboats and landing on the island.

‘When we looked harder, we could see the FBI logo on the backs of their shirts.

‘It didn’t take long for us to realize they must be conducting a raid on Epstein’s house.’

The home – dubbed ‘pedophile island’ and ‘orgy island’ – is at the center of an ongoing sex trafficking probe into the criminal financier.

Allegations have been made that underage girls were used as sex slaves and repeatedly abused inside a temple on the island.

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The raid comes days after the 66-year-old was found dead by suicide in his New York jail cell early on Saturday morning

Many members of the community believe that Epstein hid young girls he allegedly enslaved in underground rooms below the temple and other parts of the island. There is no concrete evidence to support that claim.

Sources say Epstein flew the girls into St. Thomas then shuttled them over to his island on a boat named after Ghislaine Maxwell, his ex-girlfriend and his alleged ‘madam’. The boat was called Lady Ghislaine.

The former employee said that guests included Victoria’s Secret billionaire Les Wexner, who sold Epstein his Upper East Side home in the 1990s.

The staffer said that he had seen Victoria’s Secret models on the island.

Whenever Epstein was there, normally for three to four days at a time, women would sunbathe either nude or topless by the pool as he padded around in shorts and flip flops, they said.

One former employee who declined to be identified said Epstein once had five boats and said he saw a handful of young women when he was on Epstein’s property but he believed they were older than 18.

A former air traffic controller at the island’s airport told Vanity Fair: ‘On multiple occasions I saw Epstein exit his helicopter, stand on the tarmac in full view of my tower, and board his private jet with children—female children. One incident in particular really stands out in my mind, because the girls were just so young. They couldn’t have been over 16.’

Epstein doubled his property holdings in January 2016 when he paid $18 million for Great St. James, which is nearby Little St. James a few years back.

That 162-acre property is located next to Little St. James, the 71.5-acre island he purchased in 1998 for $7.95 million.

Epstein had plans for Great St. James to include a barge dock, two homes, cottages, an amphitheater, gardens, a marine electrical cable, solar array and generator, storage building, security building, work shed, machine shop, and an ‘underwater office and pool.’

That barge and a few completed structures, as well as construction equipment, are visible in aerial images of the island.

The source added: ‘When we looked harder, we could see the FBI logo on the backs of their shirts. It didn’t take long for us to realize they must be conducting a raid on Epstein’s house’

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Allegations have been made that underage girls were used as sex slaves and repeatedly abused inside a temple on the island

Hidden messages: The temple has been of great interest to members of the QAnon community, who had been talking about the island long before Epstein’s arrest

This work has been done despite the fact that only the construction of a flagpole and repair of cisterns has been approved on the island.

And yet next door, his temple remains domeless.

Epstein had erected ‘No Trespassing’ signs throughout around almost all of Great St. James due to the area’s popularity with tourists.

Local laws make all land below the tide or bush lines public property, so Epstein couldn’t legally kick people off those lands, but he was being vigilant about making sure no one wanders onto his property.

He had made Little St. James his primary residence, but in June the helicopter that shuttles the millionaire and his guests to and from the airport was listed for sale online, with an asking price of $1.8 million

Epstein also sold one of his private jets in June. His other was seized when he was arrested in July after landing back on US soil following three-week trip to Paris.

In total, Epstein’s properties are valued at close to $150 million.

There is the Paris bolthole where he spent the weeks before returning to the US and getting arrested on the tarmac as his plane touched down at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.

The $9 million pied-a-terre is located on one of the nicest blocks in the City of Lights, and Epstein traveled there frequently, often spending a few months at the apartment each summer.

The raid came at the same morning that Attorney General Bill Barr issued a stark warning to Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators, telling them they ‘should not rest easy’.

While Epstein, left, was the only person charged the Manhattan U.S. Attorney pledged to ‘stand for victims’ following Epstein’s death on Saturday morning. Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, right, is one of those who may find herself in the spotlight

The investigation into Epstein’s sex crimes is set to shift its focus following his death to those accused of helping him, in a move that threatens to implicate some of the world’s richest, most powerful people.

Speaking at a police event in New Orleans Barr said: ‘Let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein. Any co-conspirators should not rest easy.

‘The victims deserve justice and they will get it.’

He also slammed the handling of Epstein by the Manhattan Correctional Center after it was revealed a corrections officer had not checked on the pedophile for several hours before he hanged himself in his cell in the special housing unit.

Barr, who said he was ‘appalled’ and ‘angry’ at the failure to ‘adequately secure’ Epstein, added: ‘This sex trafficking case was very important to the Department of Justice and to me personally.

‘Most importantly this case was important to the victims who had the courage to come forward and deserve the opportunity to confront the accused in the courtroom.

‘I was appalled, and indeed the whole department was, and frankly angry to learn of the MCC’s failure to adequately secure this prisoner.

‘We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation.

‘We will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability.’

A former close associate of the late mobster John Gotti Sr., Lewis Kasman, said he heard Barr paid the MCC a visit around the time Epstein was with bruises on his neck. He told The New York Post: ‘When does that happen? The attorney general never visits jails. Something’s not right there.’

Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite daughter of late media tycoon Robert, is one of those who may find her dealings with the disgraced financier in the spotlight after he was found hanged in his prison cell at Metropolitan Correctional Center on Saturday morning.

Attorney General Bill Barr issued a stark warning to Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators on Monday, telling them they ‘should not rest easy’. He also slammed the handling of Epstein by the Manhattan Correctional Center

Maxwell, 58, described as the ‘madam of the house’ by a former housekeeper at Epstein’s mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, has always denied any wrongdoing but reports now suggest she may even be ready to co-operate with the authorities.

Prosecutors may also target the witnesses who were set to testify against Epstein now that ‘they don’t need them’, The New York Post reports.

One source said: ‘They were getting a deal to testify against Epstein.’

HONG KONG — Anti-government protesters clashed with Hong Kong riot police on Tuesday, crippling the airport for the second straight day and targeting a potent symbol of the city’s position as a global center of commerce and finance that is essential to China.

The mass protests have forced the airport to suspend check-ins, creating long delays for passengers and forcing airlines to cancel hundreds of flights over the past two days. After a chaotic night, check-ins resumed on Wednesday morning, but the airport warned that flights would be rescheduled, and Hong Kong’s flagship carrier said there could be “further flight disruptions at short notice.”

The protests at the airport have been deeply tactical, as the largely leaderless movement strikes at a vital economic artery. Hong Kong International Airport, which opened in 1998, a year after China reclaimed the territory from Britain, serves as a gateway to the rest of Asia. Sleek and well-run, the airport accommodates nearly 75 million passengers a year and handles more than 5.1 million metric tons of cargo.

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The protesters are trying to intensify pressure on the government, which has refused to meet their demands. After earlier efforts to occupy local roads, shopping malls and parks failed to produce concessions, they decided to shift their efforts to a more global stage. At the airport, protesters have handed out pamphlets in different languages explaining their position.

The mayhem came hours after a mass protest forced the airport to suspend check-ins for the second day in a row.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

Peter Tan, a 23-year-old student, said that protesters were sorry to inconvenience travelers, but that other tactics hadn’t worked. “We want to spread the message to them so that they can spread the message to their country,” he said. “We are trying to protect our rights and our city.”

The clashes began late in the evening, after a group of demonstrators attacked a man they accused of being a mainland Chinese police officer impersonating a protester. As medics and the police tried to evacuate him in an ambulance, protesters blocked a road outside the departure hall.

Some officers in riot gear then began running after demonstrators, wrestling some to the ground. A group of protesters inside surrounded a police officer, taking his baton and beating him with it. They retreated after he pulled a gun, according to video footage and a police statement.

The Hong Kong government, in a statement, condemned the protesters’ tactics, saying their “violent acts” at the airport “are outrageous and have overstepped the bottom line of a civilized society.” On Wednesday morning, the city’s airport authority said it had obtained a court injunction to prevent unlawful demonstrations there.

The disruptions are a direct affront to the Chinese leadership. The wave of protests began in June to oppose legislation that would have allowed extraditions to the mainland, where the courts are controlled by the Communist Party. Since then, they have evolved into a broader push to protect Hong Kong’s autonomy and civil liberties, including a call for free elections that would be nonstarter for Beijing.

Protesters tried to block police vans outside the airport.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

In recent days, China has taken an increasingly hard stance, warning protesters in strident terms to stand down or face consequences. Beijing has also ramped up its propaganda machine, portraying the demonstrators as violent gangsters whose activities are starting to look like terrorism.

President Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday that he had intelligence “that the Chinese government is moving troops to the border with Hong Kong.” But it was unclear what information, if any, Mr. Trump had.

While Chinese security forces have recently conducted large-scale operations across the border from Hong Kong in Shenzhen, they appear mainly to be a nationalistic show of force. The possibility that China would send its military to restore order still looks remote.

The city’s embattled leader, Carrie Lam, pleaded earlier on Tuesday for order after days of escalating street violence.

“The stability and well-being of seven million people are in jeopardy,” Mrs. Lam said, her voice breaking slightly. “Take a minute to think about that. Look at our city, our home. Do we really want to push our home to the abyss where it will be smashed into pieces?”

In the news conference, Mrs. Lam was frequently interrupted by journalists who demanded an explanation for what protesters have called police misconduct. She looked more visibly emotional than she has at other recent public appearances.

“Will you apologize to the girl?” one reporter asked, referring to a woman who was hit in her right eye by a projectile during protests on Sunday. While the police have not confirmed the cause of her injury, the incident, widely reported by local news media, has helped galvanize protests at the airport.

“Why have you never condemned the police?” another journalist asked.

Toward the end of the briefing, Mrs. Lam said that police operations were not determined by “someone like myself, who is outside the police.”

Local authorities have faced criticism from a broad cross-section of Hong Kong society for their use of force in the protests. During street clashes, the police have regularly fired tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds to disperse protesters, even in residential areas and crowded shopping districts.

On Sunday night, in addition to using tear gas in a train station, the police beat protesters and chased some down an escalator at another station. The authorities, for their part, accused protesters of attacking officers with bricks and gasoline bombs.

Some demonstrators used luggage trolleys to stop passengers from reaching their departure gates.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

On Tuesday, the United Nations’ human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said there was evidence that the Hong Kong police had violated international standards for the use of less-lethal weapons like tear gas. In a statement, she condemned violence in any form, urging authorities to act with restraint.

China’s diplomatic mission in Geneva issued a testy rebuttal, expressing “deep dissatisfaction and firm opposition,” saying the comments sent the wrong signal to “violent criminal offenders.” It said Ms. Bachelet and the United Nations’ human rights office should stop interfering in Hong Kong and China’s domestic affairs.

Also on Tuesday, medical professionals held rallies at several local hospitals to protest against the police tactics and in solidarity with the woman who was hit in the eye on Sunday.

The rallies are a “direct response to what happened on Sunday,” Dr. Alfred Wong, a cardiologist who works at Tuen Mun hospital in northwest Hong Kong, said at a gathering there that drew several hundred of his colleagues.

The disruptions at the airport have left some travelers frustrated and angry.

Maisa Sodebayashi, who is from Brazil and works in a car factory in Japan, said on Tuesday that while she understood the protesters were fighting for democracy, she also wanted to catch her flight to Rio de Janeiro. She had been stranded in the airport for about 24 hours.

Protesters held signs and handed leaflets to arriving travelers.CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

“Honestly, I don’t know what to do,” Ms. Sodebayashi said, standing beside a customer service desk.

On Tuesday afternoon, thousands of demonstrators had occupied parts of the departure and arrival halls, with some using luggage trolleys to block travelers from reaching their gates. The Hong Kong Airport Authority later closed check-in services and advised all passengers to leave as soon as possible.

By early evening, some arriving flights were still scheduled, along with some departures, apparently for passengers who had managed to clear immigration before check-in closed. But Cathay Pacific Airways, the flagship carrier, told its customers to postpone “nonessential travel” out of the city for the rest of the day and on Wednesday.

The clashes at the airport began late in the evening when police vans arrived outside the departure hall, which was full of black-clad protesters. Some of the protesters obstructed the vans with makeshift blockades and threw plastic bottles at them.

As midnight neared, bands of protesters were still in the airport, while bewildered travelers, fresh off arriving flights, walked past them and into the sweltering night. The protest crowd later thinned, as did the police presence. By late Wednesday morning, there were just a few dozen protesters in the arrivals hall.

The police said in a statement issued just before dawn that they had arrested five people on charges of unlawful assembly, breach of peace, assault against police officers and possession of “offensive weapons.” Two police officers had been injured, it said.

The Hong Kong Airport Authority said operations had been “seriously disrupted.”CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

Much of the evening chaos at the airport centered on confrontations between protesters and the man accused of being a mainland Chinese police officer. The protesters pushed him to the ground, punching and kicking him, and he eventually fainted, prompting the ambulance evacuation. His identity could not be immediately confirmed.

Protesters also surrounded another man, bound his hands and feet, searched his belongings and punched him. Some accused him of being a “fake” reporter. He, too, was evacuated in an ambulance.

Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid on the Chinese mainland, wrote in a Twitter post that the man, Fu Guohao, was one of his reporters. “This shows that they have lost their sense of reason,” Mr. Hu said of the protesters in a message to a New York Times reporter. “Hatred has muddled their minds.” He later said that Mr. Fu had not been seriously hurt.

In television footage of the incident, Mr. Fu can be heard telling his captors in Mandarin, the primary mainland Chinese dialect, that he supported the Hong Kong police.